It is hard to guess what a Aardwolf weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus) on average weights 8.29 kg (18.28 lbs).
The Aardwolf is from the family Hyaenidae (genus: Proteles). It is usually born with about 275 grams (0.61 lbs). They can live for up to 25 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 70.1 cm (2′ 4″). Usually, Aardwolfs have 2 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is an insectivorous mammal, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means “earth-wolf” in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is also called “maanhaar-jackal” (Afrikaans for “mane-jackal”), “Nxi” by the Nama people, “ant hyena”, “termite-eating hyena” and “civet hyena”, based on its habit of secreting substances from its anal gland, a characteristic shared with the African civet. The aardwolf is in the same family as the hyena. Unlike many of its relatives in the order Carnivora, the aardwolf does not hunt large animals. It eats insects and their larvae, mainly termites; one aardwolf can lap up as many as 250,000 termites during a single night using its long, sticky tongue.The aardwolf lives in the shrublands of eastern and southern Africa – open lands covered with stunted trees and shrubs. It is nocturnal, resting in burrows during the day and emerging at night to seek food.
Animals of the same family as a Aardwolf
We found other animals of the Hyaenidae family:
- Brown hyena bringing 42.98 kilos (94.75 lbs) to the scale
- Spotted hyena bringing 63.69 kilos (140.41 lbs) to the scale
- Aardwolf bringing 8.14 kilos (17.95 lbs) to the scale
- Brown hyena bringing 43.4 kilos (95.68 lbs) to the scale
- Striped hyena bringing 35.09 kilos (77.36 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Aardwolf
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Proteles cristatus:
- Asian golden cat with a weight of 7.73 kilos (17.04 lbs)
- Western brush wallaby with a weight of 8 kilos (17.64 lbs)
- Smooth-coated otter with a weight of 8.96 kilos (19.75 lbs)
- Short-eared dog with a weight of 8.36 kilos (18.43 lbs)
- Phayre’s leaf monkey with a weight of 7.69 kilos (16.95 lbs)
- Golden jackal with a weight of 9.67 kilos (21.32 lbs)
- Moor macaque with a weight of 7.29 kilos (16.07 lbs)
- North American river otter with a weight of 8.09 kilos (17.84 lbs)
- White-bellied spider monkey with a weight of 6.71 kilos (14.79 lbs)
- Purple-faced langur with a weight of 7.53 kilos (16.6 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Aardwolf
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Aardwolf:
- Pampas fox with a size of 62.2 cm (2′ 1″)
- Indian crested porcupine with a size of 75 cm (2′ 6″)
- Golden jackal with a size of 83 cm (2′ 9″)
- Delacour’s langur with a size of 57.7 cm (1′ 11″)
- Proboscis monkey with a size of 64.7 cm (2′ 2″)
- Hairy-nosed otter with a size of 76.5 cm (2′ 7″)
- Suni with a size of 59.9 cm (2′ 0″)
- Pygathrix bieti with a size of 71.8 cm (2′ 5″)
- Large Indian civet with a size of 81.9 cm (2′ 9″)
- Jaguarundi with a size of 70.1 cm (2′ 4″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Aardwolf
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Aardwolf:
- Black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat
- Asian particolored bat
- Brazilian guinea pig
- Alston’s brown mouse
- Gobi jerboa
- Serval
- Smith’s bush squirrel
- Common rufous-nosed rat
- Greater dwarf shrew
- Chacoan peccary
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Aardwolf
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Aardwolf:
- Domestic yak with an average maximal age of 22.25 years
- Sika deer with an average maximal age of 25.42 years
- Reindeer with an average maximal age of 20.17 years
- Bald uakari with an average maximal age of 27 years
- Blainville’s beaked whale with an average maximal age of 27 years
- Giant panda with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Black howler with an average maximal age of 20.25 years
- Margay with an average maximal age of 20 years
- Goat with an average maximal age of 20.75 years
- Roan antelope with an average maximal age of 20 years